biscuit gallery (Shinjuku) is pleased to announce the opening of “Trace” (Kehai), the first solo exhibition by contemporary artist Wakumi Kanno, starting Saturday, April 11, 2026.
In March 2026, we are proud to present the first solo exhibition by Wakumi Kanno, a rising artist who has just graduated from the Department of Intermedia Art at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Kanno’s practice involves reconstructing familiar product packaging and labels using only “thread” as his medium. At first glance, his works possess a pop, catchy aesthetic that feels intimately woven into our daily lives. Yet, emerging from these hollow forms are the afterimages of “consumption”—an act we repeat every single day.
As the exhibition title “Trace” (Kehai) suggests, there is no physical “object” present. Instead, the stitched works harbor the vestiges of someone having once touched, consumed, and lived alongside these items. When packaging, originally intended to be consumed as a mere symbol, loses its function and transforms into an accumulation of thread, it begins to take on a sense of agency, as if posing a question to the viewer.
This exhibition marks the artist’s first solo show. As the delicate lines spun from thread overlap with the “trace” lingering around them, each viewer will surely find themselves moved by something hidden just beneath the surface of the everyday.
I sew the traces of memories that were never recorded.
Objects are consumed, used, and eventually let go.
Their forms remain within the system as blueprints or designs.
Yet, the sensations of touching them, the memories tied to them—these are preserved nowhere.
What I sew are the things that did not remain.
When I stitch the structure of an object that has outlived its function using only thread,
its original role is lost, and only the form remains in the space.
There, the faint traces of the bodies that once touched it
linger faintly.
Eventually, even the form may be lost,
and the outlines may unravel.
Even after losing its concreteness, a slight trace continues to drift.
It is memory in its formless state.
This exhibition, “Trace” (Kehai),
stitches these remnants, those not preserved by the system,
into the space.
菅野湧己｜Wakumi Kanno
【Information】
Wakumi Kanno Solo Exhibition「Trace」
Location：biscuit gallery（Shinjuku）
Exhibition Period: Saturday, April 11 – Sunday, April 19, 2026
Hours: 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM closed (Mondays and Tuesdays)
Saturday, April 11, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
The artist will be at the gallery on April 11,12,18, and 19
Admission：free
Organizer：biscuit gallery
Note: Please contact the gallery for inquiries about the artwork.